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Interesting topic,I have chronic pain in my right wrist from playing too much tennis and not letting it heal up completely, so I should know better but ....

I am a new piano player (6 months) but recently got a DP with graded keys.Now, 2 weeks later I have pain in my left and right wrist from too much piano practice(6-7h / day) combined with bad body position. The bad position I caught early on.My advice to everybody would be to let the injury heal completely even if it's minor.It does NOT mean it's ready when the pain is gone, no no no, give it some time, really ! REALLY !!!It all depends on the severity of the injury. It may be from a week to 5-6 weeks.If you don't wait, you are on the shortcut to chronic injury which is NOT good and leads to getting injured easier and more in the future with less load.

An update on my left wrist pain: even though I was sure it was tendonitis, it turned out to be a ganglion cyst. It must have been small enough, even at the most painful time, that it wasn't visible on the surface. The doctor used MRI to do the diagnosis. While it's incredibly satisfying to have a definitive diagnosis, I'm not sure what it means for piano playing. Was it bad technique that caused it, or playing in general? Is it always going to be a problem now, even with good technique? The doctor said it was fine to play, so I'll go back to playing, with both hands (yay!), but I'm a little nervous that it will just flare up again. He said if it hurt again, to get it aspirated. Reading around a bit, I get the feeling that it will be easier to deal with than tendonitis.

Strangely, I had a ganglion cyst on my right wrist a long time ago. It came and went for about 5 years then just went away. It was huge, though, very visible from the outside, and simple to diagnose. It seemed to aggravated (and maybe caused by?) playing tennis and RSI from these ridiculous pipette cans at work (they were hard to get open).

I am a new piano player (6 months) but recently got a DP with graded keys.Now, 2 weeks later I have pain in my left and right wrist from too much piano practice(6-7h / day) combined with bad body position. The bad position I caught early on.My advice to everybody would be to let the injury heal completely even if it's minor.

My advice would be not to practice 6-7 hours/day !!!! Even with perfect technique (which no beginner has), that's a heck of a heavy load.

An update on my left wrist pain: even though I was sure it was tendonitis, it turned out to be a ganglion cyst. It must have been small enough, even at the most painful time, that it wasn't visible on the surface. The doctor used MRI to do the diagnosis. While it's incredibly satisfying to have a definitive diagnosis, I'm not sure what it means for piano playing. Was it bad technique that caused it, or playing in general? Is it always going to be a problem now, even with good technique? The doctor said it was fine to play, so I'll go back to playing, with both hands (yay!), but I'm a little nervous that it will just flare up again. He said if it hurt again, to get it aspirated. Reading around a bit, I get the feeling that it will be easier to deal with than tendonitis.

Strangely, I had a ganglion cyst on my right wrist a long time ago. It came and went for about 5 years then just went away. It was huge, though, very visible from the outside, and simple to diagnose. It seemed to aggravated (and maybe caused by?) playing tennis and RSI from these ridiculous pipette cans at work (they were hard to get open).

I also have these ganglions, one was very visible on my left wrist. After I learned better tecnhique it suddenly diminished to almost invisible and I feel no pain from any of them really. So sometimes it's about technique and learning to use the wrist correctly. They don't know excatly why these things appear (I had my first when still in school) but maybe it has something to do with the way one uses the hands and that can be corrected? I would not advice surgery unless nothing else helps, my friend got nerve damage from this routine operation. It can sometimes be drained, although they often reapper.

yes, Charles, I know, too much too soon. I was just too eager.Now I know better.Thanks for the advice.

So, not one but two ganglion cases so far. I am just wondering that there might be others like MaryAnn, undiagnosed who has it and it is invisible and deeper under the skin. I guess improper technique combined with lots of repetition won't make it go away but just the opposite.

But how do you describe the "better technique" ?It is not just the ergonimic and right position of the body/arms/wrists/fingers ? Right ?

But how do you describe the "better technique" ?It is not just the ergonimic and right position of the body/arms/wrists/fingers ? Right ?

A very good question...For me it went like first just playing the way I felt like...getting a teacher... being forced to sit differently, stop hunching, stop pressing with my arms, holding my wrists up and solid, using more fingers...and doing all this while keeping my body relatively still. A very complicated task which has taken over a year and at times went completely wrong and caused problems. Then during the last few months it started feeling natural instead of wrong and I have been able to relax more. No more wrist problems. Getting my fingers to work the right way (without overcurling) has lessened the pressure on my wrist. I am in no way there yet, but I think getting the wrists more flexible and strong has made the ganglion go away (or diminish).

I have a tendency to drop my wrists when I play, especially the left hand. I also have bad tension problems. Learning how to release tension after playing a note is something my teacher and I are working on a lot.